Life begins with your first breathe and ends with your last.

Ideally, ideal breathing is an involuntary action. Just watch a baby breathe. The body knows how to breathe but then fear, stress and life get in the way and our voluntary muscles start messing it up.

Voluntary vs. Involuntary? When you’re asleep, breathing is involuntary. When you’re awake, breathing is still mostly involuntary but breathing is a muscle contraction that can be regulated by conscious thought.

While breathing is mostly involuntary, your breathing is nothing to take for granted. Breathe is the fuel of life. Your breathe carries oxygen to every cell, all 70 trillion of them. Breathing eliminates toxins and stresses.

Breath is a powerful tool that affects your state of mind and how you feel emotionally and physically.  It connects your mind, your body and your spirit.

Through our breath we are in relation with all life,  never separate from the Great Mystery”, Native American saying.

Many mystics and ancient cultures believe that breath is evidence of spirit and that working with breath is a spiritual practice. In many languages including Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Hebrew, breath and spirit are the same word.

For breath is life and if you breathe well, you will live long on earth. Sanskrit Proverb

Your most important tool to well being, to reducing stress, is your breath.

Breath helps us to communicate, to calm, to center, to circulate (not just oxygen but thoughts and insights). Like spirit and wind, breath is an invisible force.

“Breath deeply, breath consciously, for spirit is so near that you can’t see it” Rumi, 13^th century Persian poet

How you breathe affects how you feel and your state of mind. It can be invigorating; it can be calming; it can bring clarity and done improperly (shallow chest breathing) can be a health hazard. We thrust our chin and neck forward especially while on the computer; we hold our breath; we stiffen our spine; we shrug our shoulders – all no no’s when it comes to healthy breathing.

We need to learn how to breathe “more slowly, more quietly, more deeply, and regularly,” says Dr. Andrew Weil.

Healthy breathing strengthens and improves the function of your diaphragm which will keep your spine flexible and your core strong.

How we breathe reflects the state of the nervous system and influences the state of the nervous system. The nervous system links the body to the brain and if you didn’t know, the brain (the cerebrum) is the master control center for absolutely everything (look forward to Nervous System 101 coming in the near future).

By consciously changing the depth and rhythm of your breathing you can change your blood pressure, your digestion, your circulation and your heart rate.

There are books and classes and cd’s too numerous to list on breathing but two of my favorites are The Breathing Book by Donna Farhi and the cd Breathing: The Master Key to Self Healing by Andrew Weil, M.D.

For some of my personal favorites breathing techniques keep reading.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist Monk

4-7-8 breath for relaxing courtesy of Andrew Weil, M.D.  You can do this anywhere and in any position but ideally and especially while learning you are sitting up with a straight spine. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.

1. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
2. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
3. Hold your breath for a count of seven.
4. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
5. This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation.

Pranayama The word pranayama comes from Sanskrit – prana means life force or breath and yama, restraint. Conscious breathing (pranayama) can have a dramatic effect on mood, depression, anxiety, and even insomnia.

One study found that severely depressed patients who practiced pranayama three times a week for 30 minutes a day over four weeks recovered as well as patients taking an antidepressant.

Alternate Nostril Breathing – Calms nerves and and balances left and right brain. A great technique to teach kids before test taking.

Close your right nostril with your thumb, and inhale through your left nostril for at least three counts: om one, om two, om three.

Closing the left nostril with your pinkie and ring fingers, hold the breath for three to six counts. Release the thumb, and exhales through your right nostril for six counts.

Inhale through the right nostril for at least three counts, close right nostril with thumb, and retain the breath for three to six counts.

Lift pinkie and ring fingers from left nostril, and exhale six counts. This constitutes one round. Continue for five to 10 rounds.

Bellows Breathing – Stimulating and boosts blood flow to the brain, improving mood.

Fold your arms across your stomach, hands in fists. Inhale quickly through your nose, and raise your arms above your head, palms open.

Exhale forcefully through your nose, bringing hands, arms, and gaze back down.

Do 20 fast, forceful breaths; rest for 30 seconds. Repeat for four minutes, resting between rounds.

Bumblebee Breath -or Humming Breath With this sensory deprivation technique you may feel your head hum but this helps reduce worry and is very relaxing.

Close your eyes using the top three fingers of each hand, place your pinkie fingers on the base of your nostrils, and use your thumbs to cover both openings of your ears.

Inhale a regular breath, and on exhalation make a humming sound, drawing it out as long as you can. Continue for two to eight minutes.

Are you stuck in the mud like our “leaders in Washington” (definitely an oxymoron in my book)?

In the 13 Moon calendar (that’s another story), the other day was a Blue Eagle day and shortly after, the classic Steve Miller Band song (1976) Fly Like an Eagle was on the radio. I don’t ignore synchronicity so here we are.

“The eyes experience less stress when they can look upon a wider horizon.” R. D. Chin, Feng Shui architect.

The higher we rise the wider is the horizon. We really can rise above our petty differences.

I believe the the wider our view the less isolated we are. The less the feelings of separateness. The less the feelings of us vs. them, you vs. me, right vs. left.

The words Fly Like an Eagle make me think of other words and phrases such as  Eagle eye, Bird’s eye perspective, See the forest through the trees, See the big picture, have a Broad objective view and See beyond our limited perceptions and perspectives.

And most importantly, to be balanced we need to see what’s both near and far.

Enlightened leadership is service, not selfishness. The leader grows more and lasts longer by placing the well being of ALL above the well being of self alone. John Heider, Tao of Leadership

Need I say more?